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Bring back Power Replacers
dataweaver42
Posts: 166 Arc User
Those of you who were around before On Alert may remember the Power Replacer Upgrades. They were an intriguing idea that was unfortunately very poorly implemented. The single biggest problem with them was that they didn't do much to make the powers more potent (which wasn't much of a problem in and of itself) and were placed in direct competition with far more useful Upgrades. Power Replacers did things like causing your single-blade attacks inflict a secondary burst of fire damage, or rewriting Grenades to act as Stun Grenades instead of Explosive Grenades.
I'd like to see Power Replacers reintroduced into CO, but in a way where they're not competing with Upgrades or Devices. I'd design Power Replacers as Item counterparts to Advantages, which get slotted in dedicated "Power Replacer Slots" that are similar to Aura Slots. I might even put them on the same tab as the Aura Slots, and conceptually expand it from "cosmetic effects" to "minor character tweaks". The emphasis would be on "minor": ideally, every power replacer would replace functionality in such a way that deciding whether or not to equip one is a matter of weighing the tradeoffs, not a no-brainer one way ("don't bother; there are better things you could do instead") or the other ("you've got these free slots; it would be a waste not to fill them"). Powers altered by Power Replacers should be different, but not inherently better.
One use of Power Replacers would be to allow Technology and Melee Powers to synergize with Elemental, Psionic, and Mystical Powers: for example, a Power Replacer might change Single Blade powers to inflict Fire damage instead of Cutting Damage, and to cause those that would normally cause or consume Bleeds to instead cause or consume Clinging Flames. It would, of course, also add a flaming aura to the character's sword.
Another use would be to tweak powers to more closely represent their skins: I'd love to have the Nightstick item from Resistance serve both as a costume unlock and as a Power Replacer that can cause your single or dual blade powers to inflict Crushing damage instead of Cutting Damage. The old "Black Powder Weapon" items could make a comeback, unlocking the appropriate weapon skins and altering the appropriate Munitions powers to inflict Crushing damage instead of Piercing damage.
It wouldn't have to be limited to Technology and Melee, either: I'd love to get a power replacer for Ritual of Arcane Summoning that lets me use a giant robot instead of an Empyrean Construct as the pet skin while changing the activation animation from the hand-waving that it currently is to the tap-tap-tap-on-a-handheld-controller that Gadgeteer's Pet powers use. Keep the functionality of the power unchanged; just reskin it to match a Technology theme instead of a Mystical one.
I'd like to see Power Replacers reintroduced into CO, but in a way where they're not competing with Upgrades or Devices. I'd design Power Replacers as Item counterparts to Advantages, which get slotted in dedicated "Power Replacer Slots" that are similar to Aura Slots. I might even put them on the same tab as the Aura Slots, and conceptually expand it from "cosmetic effects" to "minor character tweaks". The emphasis would be on "minor": ideally, every power replacer would replace functionality in such a way that deciding whether or not to equip one is a matter of weighing the tradeoffs, not a no-brainer one way ("don't bother; there are better things you could do instead") or the other ("you've got these free slots; it would be a waste not to fill them"). Powers altered by Power Replacers should be different, but not inherently better.
One use of Power Replacers would be to allow Technology and Melee Powers to synergize with Elemental, Psionic, and Mystical Powers: for example, a Power Replacer might change Single Blade powers to inflict Fire damage instead of Cutting Damage, and to cause those that would normally cause or consume Bleeds to instead cause or consume Clinging Flames. It would, of course, also add a flaming aura to the character's sword.
Another use would be to tweak powers to more closely represent their skins: I'd love to have the Nightstick item from Resistance serve both as a costume unlock and as a Power Replacer that can cause your single or dual blade powers to inflict Crushing damage instead of Cutting Damage. The old "Black Powder Weapon" items could make a comeback, unlocking the appropriate weapon skins and altering the appropriate Munitions powers to inflict Crushing damage instead of Piercing damage.
It wouldn't have to be limited to Technology and Melee, either: I'd love to get a power replacer for Ritual of Arcane Summoning that lets me use a giant robot instead of an Empyrean Construct as the pet skin while changing the activation animation from the hand-waving that it currently is to the tap-tap-tap-on-a-handheld-controller that Gadgeteer's Pet powers use. Keep the functionality of the power unchanged; just reskin it to match a Technology theme instead of a Mystical one.
Post edited by dataweaver42 on
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And that needs to stop being biased to players go were around during the "Golden Age" of Champions.
"Good can be found in heights, even in the deepest pits of evil" but "The valleys of evil always exist in the mountains of good."
~me
Now that we have devices, like the pressurized suit and the stabilization belt, that automatically activate once put into a device slot, we could have power replacer devices that automatically alter certain powers in both looks and damage type.
They could also make new weapon/power specific auras for those who only want to change the looks. Giving your sword flames, or making your force powers look like magical bursts.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
The graphic FX being tied to the power itself with both cosmetic advantages and old power replacers working by replacing entire ranks of attack powers.
Which is very strange solution, considering it's not the case with buffs and passives.
Very likely the reason why we never got our old power replacers back.
Oh, well... Maybe one day this system will be reworked, because I really need laser dual pistols. ;/
It's not like there's no demand for this kind of items/auras.
Member of Paragon Dawn: Because some people like friendly helpful communities.
Yeah some things are broken... no I don't use/abuse them.. where would be the fun in that?
Damage type is also baked-in part of the power.
On-the-next hit powers also don't alter the damage type, they just add their own layer of damage on top of the unaltered attacks.
The way how power replaced worked was to replace yours, let's say, Assault Rifle R2 with similar power but doing particle damage. Said power was just baked into the item.
Which also why they were mostly crap and did not rank up, only scaled with stats. Because their ranks were always fixed.
You could later rank your AR to 3, but power replacer was still an equivalent of a lower rank upon replacing it.
Well, one of the problems with them. On top of that they were also built into the gear that was outdated stat-wise.
Mind you, Cloak of The Infinite Planes works because it gives you an entirely new power that just scales with the player level.
And that's just this one item.
Now, having an item that just gives you a completely extra Laser Assault Rifle or Laser Twin Gun Mojo, or something like that, scaling to the max level with no requirements for ranking anything, and having even more and more items like that? Well, that would be as serious balance problem as some of the legacy devices were.
I suppose that's precisely the problem with bringing them back, because devs certainly know there is a demand. To find a way to make a replacement power scaled to the rank of the power it replaces.